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GNOME Software Bug Doesn't Let Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Users Install Third-Party Debs

A patch has been released and will land soon in the repos

Apr 27, 2016 23:13 GMT  ·  By
Installing third-party debs with Ubuntu Software
   Installing third-party debs with Ubuntu Software

We've been tipped earlier by one of our readers that there's a bug in the GNOME Software (Ubuntu Software) package manager which doesn't let users install third-party .deb files in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

As you might very well be aware, Canonical launched the final release of the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system on April 21, 2016, replacing the Ubuntu Software Center graphical package manager, which most of the Ubuntu Linux users considered useless, with the brand-new and modern GNOME Software.

To make users feel even more comfortable with their new package manager, Canonical renamed the GNOME Software app to Ubuntu Software, but it looks like someone discovered a pretty serious bug in the application, which apparently does not allow you to install software packages in the .deb file format obtained from third-party sources. We can confirm that the issue is present right now in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with GNOME Software 3.20.1.

"I intended to install MEGA Sync Client, Google Chrome and Dropbox by downloading the needed packages from their websites," said Øystein Alver. "I opened the packages one by one with gnome-software and pressed Install - nothing, except for a super-quick progress bar animation, happened. No matter how many times I tried, same result."

A fix has been released and it's coming soon

It took the Ubuntu/GNOME team a few days to patch the issue, but it looks like a fix has been released upstream, as of April 26, 2016, so a new build of the Ubuntu Software (GNOME Software) application should arrive soon in the main software repositories of your Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system. Please update as soon as you get notified about the updated version.

We'll update the article when the new GNOME/Ubuntu Software version with support for installing third-party .deb files is live, so you know when to update your installation. Until then, you'll need to rely on the Gdebi graphical installer or the command-line (e.g. sudo dpkg -i packagename.deb) if you want to install .deb files from third-party sources.